Abstract

The cliffs of Norfolk and Suffolk yield an average of 785 000 tonnes (t) of fine sediments to the coastal zone annually. East Anglian rivers yield very little (≈5500 t a−1) but those of the Wash produce about 100 000 t a1. By contrast the region is dominated by 1.4 × l06 ta−1 input from cliff erosion in Holderness. Accumulation in vertical accretion alone of the coastal marshes of East Anglia, the Wash, north Lincolnshire and the Humber requires 1.12 × 106t a−1 of fines. Progradation around the Wash probably accounts for another 1.1 × 106t a−1. The East Anglian area (including the Wash) is thus sufficient to trap over half the regional mud input from Flamborough Head to the north side of the Thames estuary, and could take it all, depending on assumptions involved in calculation.